Arby's Goes Green With Solar Power
The Winning Team, an Arby's franchisee in Asheville, N.C., is helping the chain go green by installing solar panels on its 33 stores. The stores will use the solar panels to heat water, eliminating gas water heaters and saving about $12,000 in annual energy costs.

The franchisee struck a deal with a local utility, Appalachian Energy, to install the solar panels with no upfront capital outlay. Appalachian Energy gets the panels from a subsidiary, Renewable Energy Service Co., at less than half the retail cost and profits through renewable energy credits and a service contract with TWT, according to TWT president Ed McCammon.

Upstart Cuppy's Coffee Takes On StarbucksWith just over 60 locations, Cuppy's Coffee, Smoothies & More is David to Starbucks' Goliath. But 58 of those units opened in 2007, and the company says it has franchise agreements to open more than 200 locations in '08, putting it on track toward its goal of 1,500 stores nationwide in the next five years. Cuppy's also has franchise agreements in Canada, South Africa and Puerto Rico.

The company's slogan"like Starbucks, only better"reflects the company's aggressive growth strategy. Unlike Starbucks, however, Cuppy's says its continued success depends on the McDonald's business modelfranchising. Growth areas next year for the Fort Walton Beach, Fla., company include metro markets in Atlanta, Chicago and Pittsburgh as well as territories in California, South and Central Florida, the Midwest and Texas.

The company offers franchisees the option of unit formats, including a popular prefab double drive-through that can be dropped on a strip mall parking lot. In '07, franchisees opened 24 drive-through units, 17 cafes, 13 mobile units and four kiosks.

McDonald's Thinks Green Globally, Acts Locally
Like the geothermal restaurant it opened in Florida recently (see FER Fortnightly, Dec. 4), or its LEED-certified store in Savannah, Ga., McDonald's Corp. is constantly considering ways to act in a more environmentally responsible way. While the company thinks globally in terms of its impact on the environment, many of its initiatives focus on local circumstances, according to Bob Langert, vice president of corporate social responsibility.

"In Japan, which is very land constrained, it's about waste. In Australia, the big issue is water," Langert said in a recent interview cited in a Reuters report. "There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to environmental initiatives."

For example, Europe's concern for the past decade or more has been greenhouse gasses and climate change. In response, McDonald's joined up with the United Nations Environmental Program, the Environmental Protection Agency and Coca-Cola to host a refrigeration summit. In 2003, the chain opened an HFC-free unit in Denmark and continues to experiment with "natural" refrigerants.

In Japan, where conditions are crowded, the company focuses on waste reduction and recycling. And, as we reported last fall, McDonald's United Kingdom is experimenting both with recycling waste frying oil into bio-diesel fuel for its fleet, and with converting trash into energy to power part of a town.

These initiatives turn the stores into "laboratories of green experimentation," Langert says, some of which can be expanded to the rest of the chain if they work well.

Pollo Campero Plans For 120 MoreLatin American chicken restaurant chain Pollo Campero plans to open more than 120 freestanding stores in 2008. Of those, 90 units will be overseas and 30 will be in the United States. Campero currently operates nearly 40 U.S. restaurants. The company's goal is to be running 500 units in America by 2012.

In addition to the 30 planned U.S. locations, Campero recently signed an agreement to open an undisclosed number of outlets at Wal-Mart stores. The retail giant operates more than 2,300 Supercenters nationwide.

Pollo Campero, headquartered in Guatemala City, dishes up "country chicken" at more than 260 restaurants in 11 countries.